Shabbat Shalom ~ Terumah-Shekalim 2025

Shalom WJC Family,

Today and tomorrow we celebrate Rosh Chodesh Adar, the Hebrew month that includes the festive holiday of Purim. The Talmud (Taanit 29a) famously teaches:

מִשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אֲדָר מַרְבִּין בְּשִׂמְחָה – When one enters Adar he must increase his joy.

Many have been the years in Jewish history where we have found this instruction difficult to follow. We find ourselves once again in such a time. So who better to turn to for advice than a rabbi who experienced perhaps the worst moment in Jewish history.

Kalonymus Kalman Shapira was the chief rabbi of Piaseczno, Poland. He was captured by the Nazis and interned in the Warsaw Ghetto. There he gave a number of sermons to his students, which they wrote down. The manuscripts were buried and saved by the “Oneg Shabbat” Project and later published under the title Aish Kodesh. Rabbi Shapira tragically died in the gas chambers of Treblinka. So, what did the Aish Kodesh have to say about “increasing joy” while locked up in the Warsaw Ghetto?

“…it is not only if a person is joyful on his own, or at the very least is able to bring himself to joy, that he must rejoice. Rather, even if he is low and his heart is broken, his mind and all of his spirit trampled, it is a statute that he must, at the very least, bring a spark of happiness to his heart.”

In other words, even if we aren’t feeling joy, we must rejoice. The Hebrew word שִׂמְחָה (simcha) isn’t the feeling of joy, it is the activity of rejoicing – that is what we must increase. And perhaps if we do, we will start to feel joy too. It is in that spirit and with that intent that we celebrate Purim by dressing up, making merry, drinking, performing a spiel, and giving gift baskets to each other and tzedakah to those in need.

It is also in that spirit that I tell you the following: On Friday night March 7th we will be hosting a Friday night community dinner to honor our new members. This would be something to celebrate all on its own. It also happens to be my 50th birthday! Nothing would make me more joyful than for my half century day to be an excuse for us all to celebrate together. 

So, I hope you will consider registering for the dinner here and joining me and our new members in celebration, because we could all use a spark of joy these days and our presence will be a gift to each other.

And this Shabbat will be beautiful too – Rabbi Claire Shoyer will be with us leading one of her popular Shabbat Morning 101 sessions on Saturday morning. Join her at 10:15 in the library to gain familiarity with some of the Saturday morning prayers, their meaning and their tunes.

We also have lots of exciting events and services planned for Purim. So come up with an incredible costume idea and click here to read what we are up to and register for the parts that require it.

See you in shul,

RJA